Patricia Sherlock

As we near the Super Bowl, the stories about competing coaches John and Jim Harbaugh seem to be everywhere. The one I find most interesting is where both brothers removed key personnel during the season while on a winning streak. This was considered a radical strategy by many football analysts. John (the Baltimore Ravens coach) […]

There is no question that referral sourcing is more important than ever. Companies want producers who can generate referral business and cultivate deeper relationships with those sources. When recruiting, one key question managers must ask: “Is it better to hire a relationship-builder or someone who can create value?” When you look at the selling profession

As we move into the new year, many industry forecasts are predicting a solid year with purchase money dominating the second half of the year. As a result, many executives are thinking about training their sales staff on purchase money techniques since the current market has been predominantly refinance. Since I consult with lenders on

Last week, I discussed what happens when managers and companies lack consensus in the direction the sales team should be taking. A lack of consensus is evident when in-fighting and open disagreements take over the company and a culture turns toxic. The tricky part about lack of consensus is that it is hard to detect

When everything is going great, leadership never seems to be an issue. But when things are going badly, leadership issues come to the forefront. This is especially true in sports where every year, teams are judged harshly on their performance even if they have won championships in the past. In my opinion, this is especially

It is hard to believe that 2012 is nearly over. This year has certainly been a whirlwind so I thought it would be a good time to address some questions that I frequently hear when consulting on sales turnarounds. The Number One question managers ask is “What can I do to increase sales performance of

Last week, Rob Chrisman’s newsletter discussed Stratmor Group’s findings that in 2012, loan officers averaged only 3.5 closed loans per month. Chrisman noted that with such low LO production numbers, the economics just don’t work for mortgage companies. Stratmor’s benchmark showed an average of 10 loans per LO in 2002. When you look at the

Over the years, executives have often shared their beliefs on what predicts success at the originator level. I have heard a broad range of wacky ideas to say the least but in a review of Greg Smith’s new book ”Why I left Goldman Sachs: A Wall Street Story,” I discovered a new level of absurdity

During a recent discussion, a mortgage banking executive brought up how difficult it is to get producing managers to coach LOs. More often than not, producing managers are top originators whose production is critical to branch and corporate results. With the other originators in the branch at either average or below-average, the financial reality is

In a recent conversation I had with a financial industry executive about 2013, we discussed why it is so difficult to move to a new selling approach even when it’s obvious that the current sales model isn’t working. It made me think about the misconception that the current way of doing business is the best